Les joyeux compères

Stan and Ollie hire a trailer and go for a camping trip to the remote countryside , get accidentally drunk ( It can happen you know ) and that`s basically it as far as the threadbare plot goes . However the film feels more cohesive than some of the other L & H shorts which are sometimes a series of set piece prat falls with little regard to the over all plot . There`s also a very memorable ditty that goes

La la la lala lala la la la

Pom Pom

Which will disappear into your head and then reappear in your memory sometime in the future and will have you scratching your head asking " Where does that song come from ? "

Just like everyone else on this page I liked THEM THAR HILLS but wouldn`t say it`s the greatest ever L & H short . In fact I wouldn`t even say it`s the greatest short featuring Mr and Mrs Hall because the sequel TIT FOR TAT released the following year is even better

Them Thar Hills (1934) : Brief Review -

Laurel and Hardy on a health Picnic is injurious to them but Helpful for your health. Them Thar Hills is another typical laugh riot from Laurel & Hardy. Just like their contemporary short comedies this one too relies on substantial situations rather than making out forceful comedy like other unintelligent people did that time. Stan and Ollie take a trip into the mountains ('the high multitude') so that Ollie can recover from gout. Bootleggers have dumped their moonshine in the well from which the boys sample their 'healthy' mountain water. Mr Hall, who has left his wife with the boys while he refuels his car is not amused at his wife's condition when he returns. I must say it has those jokes which we are fond of Today, that's almost after 9 decades. I would say watch out for few scenes which led to funny situations effortlessly. Like that water scene, Stan suspects the colour but Ollie answers, that's why Doc asked us to drink it a lot. Such a cute and innocent comedy it was. Who else did it better in 30s than them? So, their legacy is unquestionable, rather undeniable. I missed Stan's funny cries this time, maybe he could had his signature cry here too as i felt that drunkenness could have helped it to score. Ollie, as always, sensibile yet insensibly funny. When he offers a food and drink to that lady i was like, how sophistically he speaks. I mean even many rehearsed gentlemen would fail to bring that much convince on screen. Talking about comedy, it's not hysterical or completely mad but yes it is Funny and meaningfully. It depends on your taste how you like it. As for me, the sensibility always works more than dramatic proportions. A fine job Charley Rogers has done with no hard efforts at all. Easy and Simple, that's how he managed it. I will be catching the Sequel in no time.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

This is a good Laurel & Hardy short comedy, with one particularly hilarious sequence. With Ollie suffering from too much high living, the two take a trip to the country to live the simple life for a while, but instead they find themselves getting into one caper after another. After some adventures of their own, they encounter a pair of stranded motorists. Their extended squabble with Charlie Hall in the last part of the film is non-stop laughs, and one of their funniest sequences. That, and plenty of other laughs in the rest of the film, make "Them Thar Hills" one of the best-remembered Laurel & Hardy short features.

A LAUREL & HARDY Comedy Short. Poor Ollie is suffering painfully from gout. His doctor advises rest, country air & lots of fresh water. So the Boys rent a trailer and head up into THEM THAR HILLS. Picking a quiet spot, they are unaware that the well has been tainted with many barrels of bootleg liquor. Drinking the water while fixing their dinner, they quickly become inebriated. They are suddenly visited by a bickering couple who've run out of gas. Playing host to the wife, Stan & Ollie share their water with her and she is roisteringly drunk by the time her husband returns...

This is a very funny little film & should be seen in conjunction with its follow-up, TIT FOR TAT. The slapstick fight between the Boys & Charley Hall, as the furious husband, is hilarious. Mae Busch is the wife; film mavens will recognize Billy Gilbert as the doctor.

Mr. Hardy is suffering from gout, so Mr. Laurel proposes they buy a trailer and go stay in the country. They park on a patch of land with a well on it. Little do they know.... well, anything. In this case, revenooers have poured moonshiner's products down the well. As they drink the water, their mood rises..... but here comes married couple Charlie Hall and Mae Busch. It all ends in one of the marvelous slow motion 'tit for tat' duels that the Boys got into.

Stan and Ollie were alternating their shorts with features by this point, and could choose to make a movie short or long depending on what they wanted to do. This undoubtedly contributed to their sustained level of excellence in this period.